Gill does it again, wins Pro Circuit Championship on the Kissimmee Chain
Drew Gill is no stranger to big moments, and winning the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Championship is one of his biggest wins yet. Photo by Jody White
By Jody White, Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit, Press Release
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Burnishing his already sterling record, Drew Gill earned his third major victory of the year – and his second in Florida – with a comeback win in the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Championship on the Kissimmee Chain. In sixth place after Day 1, Gill moved up to second on Day 2 with 22 pounds, 12 ounces, and he smashed his way to the top on Day 3 with 31-13 for a 75-3 total. For the win, Gill takes home $100,000, a superfluous REDCREST qualification and some serious momentum for the rest of the fall slate.
Fishing second, Levi Kohl dropped one spot with a solid final day that earned him $25,000, and Bobby Bakewell rallied back into third for a $20,000 payday. The 2027 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech season starts in February at Lake Murray, and the full schedule promises to be just as exciting as this season.
Mid-tournament adjustments earn Gill the win
After two days, five of the top six pros had caught most of their fish from the same community hole in Lake Toho, scanning through the area with forward-facing sonar and making the most of it. Kohl had the lead, but it was not insurmountable by Florida standards, and it was anyone’s guess how well that area would hold up.
Luckily for Gill, he had discovered a secondary zone, and it turned out to be excellent.
“The community hole was sketching me out – eventually, it was going to give out,” said Gill. “Sometimes that doesn’t happen, but with that one, I felt like it was destined to get tricky. If it’s zero-zero, me and Levi are tied, I bet I start there. But when I’m at a 5-pound deficit, I wasn’t going to beat Levi enough there. I knew I had to do something different. After seeing three big ones yesterday, that’s the different I needed.”
The secondary area was like the first area, but it had a lot less competition – and, as it turns out, bigger bass.
“I had no idea how good that area was,” admitted Gill. “I knew it was solid, but it was arguably just decent going into the tournament. I got a little more dialed at what I was looking for in that zone – I wanted to be in areas with a little bit of a basin and a zone of clean bottom in columns of peppergrass. I figured out what I was looking for, and that is what got me around the big, big ones.
“I got a little bit dialed in the last 30 minutes yesterday – I saw three real big ones,” he explained. “So, I flicked on SideVü, and I scanned over that area to see what it looked like, and then I scanned over that area for about an hour and marked the places with really clean bottom around columns of peppergrass. That allowed me to expand through the area and know where that area started and stopped.”
Gill knew what to look for because that area set up much like the community zone, where he’d caught just about all his weight during the first two days.
“They were both a similar concept – places with peppergrass with really clean bottom in between,” he said. “The area I fished the first two days, that area was shallower, and it was more about fishing for fish in little groups. As I moved on to the other area, that was a little deeper, and those fish were a little more singular and a little more floaty. The ones in my second place – it turns out my better place – the average size ran really high.”
Relying on LiveScope to target groups and individuals, Gill got it done in his three hours with the technology every day.
“You had to have places where the peppergrass was more columns than in patches,” he explained. “They stayed in the area because of the peppergrass, but the narrower columns didn’t hide them as well. They were a little more mobile, where you could see ‘em.”
Going from good to great also required a bait adjustment. In hindsight, it seems obvious, but Gill wasn’t at all sure going into Day 3.
“I caught a 7-pounder on Day 2 that I made a few different presentations to,” Gill explained. “I hit it with a worm, and it paid attention; I hit it with an urchin, and it didn’t do anything, and then I caught it on a big minnow. They were acting really odd – I saw some big ones, and they didn’t act great.
“I knew I was around some big ones, but the 7-pounder I caught, I approached six or eight times,” he said. “Today, I went out with 38 rods on my deck, because I didn’t have a blockbuster deal on that area, and I’ll be danged, every fish in that area wanted to bite the urchin. It was lights-out – you hit one with it, and it bit.”
Gill’s primary bait on the first two days was the venerable 7-inch Big Bite Baits Nekorama in matte margarita on a drop-shot. He threw it on a 7-foot, 6-inch, medium-light Phenix K2 spinning stick with a 2000-size Johnny Morris Carbonlite Tech spinning reel and 22-pound braid with a 15-pound Seaguar Grand Max leader. His urchin of choice was a large one, which he rigged with two single hooks and a 3/32-ounce weight. He threw it with 40-pound braid and a 24-pound Seaguar Grand Max leader on a 7-1, heavy Phenix Recon Elite with a Johnny Morris Carbonlite Tech baitcaster.
Gill shines again in Florida
A winner this winter at the Harris Chain, and a winner with Marshall Robinson in the Bass Pro Shops Summit Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches in 2024, Gill seems to have mastered the Sunshine State.
“Florida has been really nice to me, but I don’t overly love it,” he said. “There are single fish opportunities, lots of ‘other’ fish for confusion purposes (on forward-facing sonar). And, I’ll be honest, I tend to do really well when I’m on a place with really big largemouth. My wins are Kissimmee, Harris, Guntersville, Murray, Sam Rayburn – evidently, that’s my thing.”
Realistically, Gill’s thing is just winning, and he’s banked nearly $500,000 this year alone between MLF trails. Always excited to launch his boat, Gill isn’t taking his run for granted.
“It never, ever, ever, ever gets old,” he said of the win. “It feels extra nice after a few tournaments I was very unhappy with the results of – at the Bass Pro Tour on Lake Erie and the Pro Circuit at Lake Champlain. It feels really nice to get back on the right foot and remind myself that I am capable of smashing them when I’m around them.”
Top 10 pros
1. Drew Gill – 75 – 3 (15) – $100,000
2. Levi Kohl – 64 – 15 (15) – $25,000
3. Bobby Bakewell – 61 – 12 (15) – $20,000
4. Banks Shaw – 61 – 1 (14) – $16,000
5. Levi Thibodaux – 60 – 8 (15) – $15,000
6. Ryan Lachniet – 56 – 8 (15) – $14,000
7. Connor Jacob – 55 – 10 (15) – $13,000
8. Brody Campbell – 52 – 3 (15) – $12,000
9. Preston Kolisek – 51 – 14 (15) – $11,000
10. Kyle Austin – 48 – 8 (15) – $10,000
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